SA winners in Nigeria bid
The fixed and mobile telecommunications operator Nigeria Telecommunications (Nitel) has potentially been up for sale before, but the process has previously not been completed. However, Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) officially invited interested parties to express their interest in a 51% stake in April this year. It hopes to complete the process by September.
The BPE released the short-list, cut down from the 22 consortia that expressed an interest in Nitel, this morning.
The other short-listed candidates are Celtel, the sub-Saharan Africa cellular giant that MTN missed out on buying recently, as well as Algerian operator Osracom, Orion Telecommunications’ NewTel and a consortium including the Chinese telecoms equipment company Huawei, the Huawei/Jacuz consortium.
In the context of the Telkom/Vodacom bid, Telkom is interested in the fixed line operations, and Vodacom, in the mobile operations, called M-Tel. This is Vodacom’s second iron in the Nigerian fire, however. It is also bidding for third biggest mobile operator in Nigeria, V-Mobile, in a consortium including Vodafone. But, the latter bid is subject to ongoing, long-standing litigation around whether Econet Wireless has the right to increase its stake in the operator or not.
MTN is already the dominant player in the Nigerian mobile market and is bidding for Nitel through its subsidiary in Nigeria, MTN Nigeria.
Other South African companies that had expressed an interest, but have not made the short-list, include Dimension Data and Mzi Khumalo’s Metallon.
Unsuccessful bidders from elsewhere include Vodafone and Tata’s Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), among others.
For the successful six, now called “pre-qualified” bidders, the next step is to pay a fee of $35 000 for access to an electronic data room in order for them to start their due diligence investigations.
Loading ...